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Ben & Jerry's board of directors chair Anuradha Mittal strikes again. She tweeted earlier this week on the X platform that "When people are occupied, Resistance is justified!" She also tweeted the slogan "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," which was deemed antisemitic by X owner, Elon Musk and is generally understood to be a call for the destruction of the state of Israel.
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Mittal, an American born in India who is a renowned global expert on human rights, is known in Israel for the brand's boycott on Israeli settlements, her statements over the years against Israeli policies and her support for the BDS movement. Since the Hamas massacre on October 7 and beginning of the war in Gaza, she has made a point of speaking out against Israel's military activity in the coastal strip, sharing photos and videos and opposing U.S. support for Israel. On Wednesday, Congress passed the resolution which states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, prompting her to tweet "Congress is corrupt."
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Anuradha Mittal, Ben & Jerry's director board chair
(Photo: AP, S Martin/Flickr/Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic)
Over the years, Mittal has constantly criticized and condemned Israeli action in the West Bank, referring to it as occupation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mittal demanded that Dr. Anthony Fauci call on Israel to share vaccines with Palestinians and shared a link to a petition on the subject. Finally, throughout Israel's operations and the current war in Gaza, Mittal has pushed for an immediate cease-fire despite initial Hamas atrocities, even calling the Gaza war "genocide" on Tuesday.
Ben & Jerry's Israel is an independent, private company that operates in Israel without a commercial or legal relationship with the international company. Ben & Jerry's Israel said that it "absolutely condemns" the words of the head of the board of directors of the International company.
A year ago, Ben & Jerry's Israel broke off from the international company because of the board's views and treatment of Israel.